Sunday, November 14, 1999
SPORTS ON TV-RADIO
MacWilliams makes most of second shot
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For Andy MacWilliams, it has made the transition from radio to the real world a little easier.
MacWilliams, formerly the voice of Xavier basketball and WLW's sports director, is wrapping up his first season as the analyst on the Prep Sports Network, WTSJ-AM 1050.
MacWilliams suffers from spasmodic dystoniam which causes his vocal chords to spasm. The problem disorder cost him his job at WLW. When the people from PSN offered him a chance to do a little radio, MacWilliams jumped at it.
“I'd be at a game anyway,” MacWilliams said. “I love high school football. It's a chance to make a little money, doing something I enjoy.”
The Prep Sports Network is really the Elder Sports Network. PSN does every Elder game. Going from Xavier to doing high schools may seem like a step down, but up on the West Side, Elder football is every bit as big as XU basketball.
The Panthers average almost 10,000 fans a game, and their games against teams such as Moeller and St.Xavier sold out this year in a matter of hours.
“I've gotten more reaction to this than anything I've done,” MacWilliams said. “A lot of people at the game listen on headsets. We joke that they get to see the game and listen to the one we're describing.”
John Lyons handles the play-by-play. He and MacWilliams do as good a job calling games as anyone in the area on any level. Lyons is excellent. (You have to forgive the occasional miscall on high school games, because the press boxes are full of blind spots and lights that make seeing action in the corners nearly impossible).
MacWilliams prepared as thoroughly as he did for Xavier basketball.
“(Producer) Mark Bengal and the people from Prep Sports Network do a professional job,” MacWilliams said. “There's not all the back-biting. They do it because they enjoy it.”
The back-to-back Elder-Oak Hills games — in the final week of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs — made for an odd week in the MacWilliams household. Andy's wife, Janet, is an Oak Hills graduate and works for the school.
“It was a little strange,” Andy said. “I tried to call it straight down the middle. When you're dealing with 17- and 18-year-old kids, you're not going to criticize anybody anyway.”
MacWilliams' voice has held up well. Lyons does the bulk of the talking as the play-by-play man.
“This is confirmation that I'm not a failure,” MacWilliams said. “I can still do this.”
MacWilliams is working full time as a financial adviser for Solomon, Smith and Barney. He also writes for the Xavier fan newspaper. Because of his obligation to the paper, he won't do Elder basketball for PSN.
“I feel like I have to be at every Xavier game if I'm going to write about them,” he said.
But the football gig has been fun.
“I've had a blast,” he said.
KUDOS TO TALKERS: I would like to compliment the sports talkers for their work this week. I bumped around the dial quite a bit and barely heard any Bengals talk.
The Angry Guys had interviews with Vanderbilt football coach Woody Widenhofer and Ohio U. coach Jim Grobe. Mark Amazon had an interview with St. Xavier coach Steve Rasso. Lance McAlister talked college basketball. Wildman Walker talked Cyclones hockey.
All this proves that you don't have to beat the dead horse of a subject that the Bengals have become.
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